The gold medal fight between Russia and India at the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad being played in the chess.com server ended with the world chess body awarding the gold medals to both teams after a massive internet outage disconnected three of the Indian players during the games.
The two teams drew their games on all boards in the first set for a 3-3 count. It was in the second and decisive match that the global internet outage struck, severely affecting many countries including India. Two of the Indian players, GM Nihal Sarin and WIM Divya Deshmukh, lost connection towards the end of the game, subsequently losing on time. The outage also affected GM Humpy Koneruās winning edge over GM Alexandra Goryachkina, losing on time after the outage diminished her clock time. The incident happened when the top three boards ended in draws and the outcome of the match was still unclear.
The Russians appeared to have clinched the gold after āwinningā the three lower boards on time, 4Ā½-1Ā½, and FIDE initially awarded them the gold. India appealed the decision and after weighing all the facts and the evidence of the harm the global glitch inflicted on the three lower boards, FIDE decided thereafter to award the gold to both teams. The decision meant the first victory of India in a Chess Olympiad, and the first one for Russia since 2002.
Vidit, SG (2726)-Nepomniachtchi, I (2784) [D85]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Qd2 Qa5 9.Nf3 0-0 10.Rc1 Bg4 11.d5 b5 12.Bxc5 Rc8 13.Bb4 Qc7 14.Nd4 a5 15.Ba3 b4 16.Bb2 Qb6 17.Bb5 e5 18.dxe6 Bxe6 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.c4 Bxb2 21.Qxb2 Nc6 22.Qf6 Nd4 23.Bd7 Rf8 24.Qe5 Rxf2 25.Kxf2 Rf8+ 26.Ke3 Nf5+ 27.Kd3 Qe3+ 28.Kc2 Nd4+ 29.Kb1 Qd3+ 30.Ka1 Rf2 31.Bxe6+ Kf8 32.Qd6+ Kg7 33.Qe7+ Kh8 34.Qd8+ Kg7 35.Qe7+ Kh8 36.Qd8+ Kg7 37.Qe7+ Ā½-Ā½
Nepomniachtchi, I (2784)-Anand, V (2753) [C50]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a6 7.a4 h6 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.h3 a5 10.Re1 Be6 11.b3 Re8 12.Bb5 Bd7 13.Bb2 Ba7 14.Nf1 Nb8 15.Bxd7 Nbxd7 16.Ng3 d5 17.Qc2 c6 18.Rad1 Qc7 19.Nf5 Rad8 20.b4 Nf8 21.Bc1 Ne6 22.g3 b5 23.axb5 cxb5 24.bxa5 dxe4 25.dxe4 Rxd1 26.Rxd1 Bc5 27.Be3 Ra8 28.Ra1 Bxe3 29.Nxe3 Rxa5 30.Rxa5 Qxa5 31.Nd5 Qa4 32.Nxf6+ gxf6 33.Qd3 Ng5 34.Nxg5 hxg5 35.Kg2 Qb3 36.Qf3 Kg7 37.h4 gxh4 38.gxh4 b4 39.cxb4 Qxb4 40.Qg4+ Kh7 41.Qf5+ Kg7 42.Qg4+ Kh7 43.Qf5+ Kg7 44.Qg4+ Ā½-Ā½
Goryachkina, A (2582)-Koneru, H (2586) [D37]
chess.com (4.3) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 Ba6 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 Qxd5 10.0-0 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 c5 12.e4 Qb7 13.d5 exd5 14.exd5 Nd7 15.d6 Bf6 16.Ng5 Bxg5 17.Bxg5 Ne5 18.Qg3 f6 19.Bf4 Rfe8 20.Rad1 Qd7 21.Bxe5 Rxe5 22.Qb3+ Kh8 23.Rd2 Rae8 24.h3 h6 25.Rfd1 R8e6 26.Qf3 Re8 27.b3 Kg8 28.a4 a6 29.Rd5 R5e6 30.Qd3 Ra8 31.a5 bxa5 32.Rxc5 Rd8 33.Rd5 a4 34.bxa4 Qxa4 35.d7 Re7 36.g3 a5 37.Rd6 Qa2 38.Qc3 Qf7 39.Qc7 Qf8 40.Qxa5 f5 41.Qd5+ Kh8 42.Qd4 Kh7 43.h4 f4 44.Qxf4 Qxf4 45.gxf4 Rf7 46.R6d4 Kg8 47.Kg2 Kf8 48.Kg3 Ke7 49.Re4+ Kf8 50.Red4 Ke7 51.Kg4 Rf6 52.Re4+ Kf7 53.Re5 Rg6+ 54.Kf3 Rb6 55.Rd3 Rb7 56.Red5 Ke7 57.Kg4 Rb6 58.h5 Kf7 59.Rf5+ Ke7 60.Re5+ Kf7 61.f5 Rb4+ 62.f4 Rb7 63.Red5 Rb1 64.Rd6 Rb5 65.R6d5 Rb6 66.Kf3 Rb7 67.Ke4 Rb4+ 68.R3d4 Rb6 69.Rd6 Rb5 70.R4d5 Rb4+ 71.Ke3 Rb3+ 72.Rd3 Rb5 73.R6d5 Rb6 74.Kf3 Rb1 75.Rd2 Rb3+ 76.Kg4 Rb6 77.Rd6 Rb5 78.R2d5 Rb1 79.f6 Rg1+ 80.Kf5 Rh1 81.fxg7 Rxh5+ 82.Kg4 Rh1 83.Rc6 Rg1+ 84.Kf5 Rxg7 85.Rxh6 Ke7 86.Re6+ Kf8 87.Rf6+ Kg8 88.Rg6 1-0
Esipenko, A (2682)-Nihal, S (2620) [A33]
chess.com (4.5) 2020
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.g3 Qb6 7.Ndb5 Ne5 8.Bg2 a6 9.Na4 Qa5+ 10.Nbc3 Nxc4 11.0-0 d5 12.b3 Nd6 13.Qe1 Qd8 14.e4 Ndxe4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Bg5 Be7 17.Rd1 Nd5 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Qxe4 Bd7 20.Rfe1 Bc6 21.Qg4 f5 22.Qe2 Rd8 23.Qxe6 Qxe6 24.Rxe6+ Kf7 25.Re5 1-0
Divya, D (2305)-Shuvalova, P (2454) [A05]
chess.com (4.6) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 b5 5.d3 Be7 6.Nbd2 Bb7 7.c3 0-0 8.Qc2 c5 9.Re1 Nc6 10.e4 Qc7 11.Nf1 Rfd8 12.e5 Nd7 13.Bf4 a5 14.h4 a4 15.a3 h6 16.Ne3 Nb6 17.Ng4 Bf8 18.Qd2 Kh7 19.d4 Nd7 20.Bf1 c4 21.Be2 Ne7 22.Bd1 Nf5 23.Bc2 Ra6 24.Kg2 Qc8 25.Rh1 Kg8 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb4! Blackās futile options are: 1…Sc7 2.Qxd6#; 1…Kxe5 2.Rf5#; 1…Kxc6 2.Bb7, Qc5#; 1…Se6/e4 2.Q(x)e4#./PN
